Handling Charge-Offs for Credit Repair

When you find a charge-off on your credit report that means your payments are very late. Usually over 180 days have passed and for seven years that entry will impact your reputation towards lenders. Therefore, with such a long impact on your financial future, it’s essential that you do all you can to not have any of those in the first place or to act accordingly once the damage has already been done. After six months have passed, the creditor considers you at fault and will close your account and simply ask you to pay.

The word “charge-off” might not mean immediate action to you, but it’s not to be taken lightly. You’re not off the hook by any means. Beside creditors still trying to collect the account, your credit report will most likely be strongly affected. When lenders and creditors look at your credit report and see that you’ve gotten yourself into charge-offs, their opinion is almost instantly changed. Charge-offs communicate that you’ve let an account go on its own for way too long without payment, and that can only be bad news for you when you go to look for new credit.

Can I remove a charge-off?

Yes. If you want to remove a charge-off, the best idea would be to contact the original entity. The collection agency is simply doing the work assigned to them by the original creditor and the fate of the charge-off is mostly out of the collection agent’s hands. So, when you try to negotiate such a deal for removal, you must offer some form of repayment terms to include payment, and preferably dates as well for all your future actions towards payment goals for this account. The negotiation happens with the money you can put in and how fast you can manage to do it. When you call in to speak to your creditor, it’s preferable that you don’t play the blame game, stay calm and polite. If you support your case with good arguments, payments and dates, the charge-off could be removed from your credit report. That would represent a great move for your credit repair.

If you want to write your offer and negotiation instead, go for what’s is often referred to as a “pay for delete letter”. The goal stays the same, but be careful that the right person reads it at the company and that your voice is heard, rather than ignored. Calling in might be simpler, but the option of writing a letter is still there for you for a shot at improving your credit repair.

Got any success?

If you were successful in your attempt to remove your charge-off, have the whole thing confirmed in written form. The agreement could be sent to you by mail or fax, and use certified mail. You can wait to make your payment until you've seen the agreement signed and until everything is set. Once both parties work out their sides of the agreement, your credit report and credit repair situation will be improved.

So in conclusion, removing charge-offs could really improve your chances at more credit in the long run. If you want to take on bigger and more long-term loans in the future, have those removed as much as possible when you take care of your credit repair.

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